National Healthcare Systems

Health care systems are an arrangement for delivering health facilities. These facilities includes treatment, surgery, medicines and care giving plans.

Health care is an issue in every country of the world and a testament of this is from the memorable episode of the Simpsons, where when the perk of free drugs was withdrawn, the people of Springfield resorted to illegally smuggling in drugs from Canada.

But humor aside, the issue of health care and health care systems is a growing concern with health costs sky rocketing. The health facilities provided to any nation are divided between the government and private companies. This is the trend in capitalistic economies like the United States of America and England. In comparison to this third world government provide basic facilities of health free or divide them with non-government organizations.

It is perceived that the National Health care system of the USA is perhaps the best, but being such a huge economy, it takes a greater effect of the recession and the private companies look to minimize costs by reducing the expenditure on health benefits. The business community pays for 55 percent of the nation's total health costs, the government just 45 percent. This is a growing concern for the US government because while they are trying to provide maximum opportunities and relaxations to the companies to recover from the recession, they will never the less have to take over the burden of health care. At present the amount of money it owes by way of pensions and unemployment checks is already huge.

Another form of health care is health insurance, and although companies purchase this for their employees, yet many people are known to purchase additional health insurance for what is not covered under their employment health insurance plans. Keeping this in view, it would perhaps be possible for such people to afford health facilities through insurances. In fact, the US senate is indeed considering a reform act whereby it will be necessary for every citizen to purchase health insurance.

Other nations like china are taking a different approach to things, one that befits its situation. In china the health facilities were the sole responsibility of the government for a very longtime and now that the Hospitals are forced to cover at least a part of their costs, they are finding it a difficult task as there was no health system in place during the time of the Marxists. There is a lack of hospitals and at present china is focusing on developing infrastructure for health facilities. Under a plan passed Wednesday by the State Council, China is set to spend more than $120 billion in the next few years to build hospitals and clinics as part of an effort to provide basic, universal health care.

The health care system of the UK provides health facilities to all and it has been a long practice there that people receive some facilities under the national program and buy others in the open market. However, this proves to be a problem when the government will not pay for some experimental drug to treat cancer because its results rare not reliable and the cost is too great. It is unclear what an individual can do at this point because if now the government withdraws all health care when the individual pays privately for a health facility.

Indeed the health systems have some draw backs and constraints and they need to be addressed but the economic conditions are not making it easy.

• Felicia Byrnes
• 27/01/2009, 4:59 AM
• 0 Comments